Canelo Alvarez puts unified belts on line against Charlo in ‘hometown’ match

LAS VEGAS: It didn’t take long for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to consider Las Vegas his second home.

He came here to fight Jose Cotto on May 10, 2010, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and right away Alvarez felt the support from his Mexican compatriots.

Alvarez won that fight by technical knockout in the second round, the first of many trips to Las Vegas. He is back again, this time as the unified super middleweight champion preparing to face junior middleweight champ Jermell Charlo on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

“I think it’s the capital of boxing,” Alvarez said of Las Vegas. “I just feel (it’s) like coming home because a lot of Mexicans go there and support me. So that’s why I like fighting in Vegas, and there’s a lot of history there.”

The 33-year-old Alvarez has been a big part of that history, whether it’s beating Gennadiy Golovkin twice with another fight ending in a split draw, or defeating Shane Mosley, Daniel Jacobs or Sergey Kovalev. His favorite memory is of the one-sided unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto in November 2015.

“He’s a great champion,” Alvarez said in the ring after that fight, “but now it’s my era.”

Alvarez (59-2-2) has the chance to add to his legacy when he faces the 33-year-old Charlo, who is moving up two weight classes for this fight.

Even though Charlo (35-1-1) is the one moving up, he is 4 inches taller than the 5-foot-8 Alvarez and has a 2 1/2-inch reach advantage. Alvarez said his experience will help him counter the size deficiency.

“I’ve been in the ring with a lot of styles, all kind of fighters,” Alvarez said. “My whole career, I’ve been fighting with (boxers) taller than me, so I know how.”

Charlo, who lives in Houston, already is talking about a rematch, which likely would